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Sunday, November 4, 2012

Grateful: Day 4: Liu

This is a task I dread, but thankfully, I only have to do it on the weekends, because my ayi comes Mondays through Fridays and spoils me with clean floors every day before she leaves.

When NZ initially proposed that we hire an ayi, I thought it was absurd. I do love housework, and even love doing floors at home-but having our cat here as an indoor cat---turned out to be a game changer for me. He's black. He has lots of fur. He sheds. Everywhere. I felt like my attempts to sweep were futile when we arrived. All I was doing was pushing fur balls around the house.

Enter, Liu. Our ayi.

She's got magical floor cleaning powers.

Seriously.

Every single day, she sweeps, dusts and mops our floors.

And they sparkle.

Nobody would know a cat even lives here.

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Liu and Sal playing with his cardboard box "car"

But I am thankful for Liu even more so for her sweet disposition, her willingness to teach me vocabulary when I point to something and ask, and our charading back and forth and laughing at one another. I'm most touched by her love of the boy. She's an extra set of eyes, she's a get-down-on-his-level-and-play kinda woman, and the love she has for him is mutual. Sal loves Liu. She actually gets more of his sloppy open mouth kisses than I do. He can go from screaming basket case to smiling ear to ear when she rings the apartment to be let in. He adores her, and this is important to me.

We have had her working for us for 5 months now, and I can't picture life without her in it. She's really become a part of our daily life here, and I am ever so grateful for her help.